NEW YORK, Aug 23 ― The travel and tourism industry headed into 2016 with a lot of strikes against it. There were Zika and Brexit to contend with. There was political instability. And there was the persistent cloud of terrorism. But despite the setbacks in the first half of the year, new stats show that travel and tourism is still expected to grow 3 per cent in 2016.

In the latest update of the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Economic Impact Reports 2016, analysts found a positive global outlook on the state of travel, with growth expected to outpace economic growth, currently forecast at three per cent.

Leading the charge is South Asia, which is predicted to grow by 6 per cent, thanks largely to the strong economic prospects in India, according to the WTTC report.

Visits to Northeast and Southeast Asia are also expected to show solid growth at around four per cent, while growth to North America is forecast at 3 per cent.

Europe is predicted to post a more modest performance at 2 per cent.

At the other end of the spectrum, a contracting economy and political turmoil across Latin America ― notably food shortages in Venezuela and pre-Olympics protests ― have made Latin America the worst performer, with growth downgraded from one to nearly 2 per cent.

This despite Brazil’s star turn hosting the Rio Olympics.

While Brexit may have caused shockwaves through the markets this year, travelers took advantage of the lower exchange rate, boosting travel to the UK. Higher international spending by foreign visitors also helped offset weaker domestic spending and a decline in outbound travel, says the WTTC.  The result is a projected growth of nearly 4 per cent in 2016.

On the flip side, countries like Australia, India, France, Spain, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates were the most impacted by the drop in UK visits.

In France, the ongoing threat of terror attacks has also downgraded growth from three per cent to one per cent for the rest of 2016.

The most recent estimates reported by Le Figaro peg losses of up to €1 billion (RM4.55 billion) for Paris’s tourism industry in the first eight months of 2016, compared to 2015.

Likewise, terror attacks in Turkey and the failed coup have reduced growth prospects down three per cent from 0.2 per cent. ― AFP-Relaxnews